As the hub for training generations of tank - armoured officers, the Tank - Armoured Officer College has always enhanced the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, promoted its glorious tradition, fostered and spread the noble virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, thus laying a solid spiritual foundation for developing a strong school capable of meeting the increasingly high requirements of Army building and Fatherland protection.

The Tank - Armoured Officer College (hereinafter referred to as the College) was founded on 22 June 1965. Over the past 60 years of construction, combat, training, maturity, and development, the College has developed itself into a centre for training and cultivating tens of thousands of tank - armoured officers for the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and some foreign countries’ militaries. Cadres graduating from the College have well promoted their knowledge and responsibility in their positions; many of them have showcased their remarkable qualities and capabilities, bolstering the heroic Tank - Armoured Force’s tradition of “winning victory whenever in battle”, significantly contributing to the cause of VPA building, defence consolidation, and Fatherland protection.

Tactical manoeuvre training for cadets of the College

In that process, with responsibility and sentiment of revolutionary soldiers, generations of cadres, lecturers, cadets, employees, and soldiers of the College have always been active in studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” - the VPA’s core values via specific, practical, creative deeds. Those efforts have contributed to achieving uniformity in will and action, making party organisations strong, pure, building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong College, developing a standardised environment for studying and training. As a result, the College’s education and training quality has been raised; training content and programs have been renewed to be relevant to realities and contribute to equipping cadets with necessary knowledge, skills, and qualities to fulfil their tasks in any circumstances. At the same time, cadres and lecturers from the College have always improved themselves in terms of politics, ideology, and professional competence; they have become role models in performing all tasks.

With its brilliant achievements, the College has been honoured with many noble rewards by our Party and State, the State of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Notably, on 30 May 2009, it has been presented with the title of “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in the Renewal Period” by our Party and State; on the occasion of its 60^th founding anniversary, it will be given Third-Class Fatherland Protection Order. This is a source of motivations for the College’s cadres, lecturers, cadets, employees, and soldiers to continue successfully fulfilling their tasks and bolstering the tradition of “unity, self-reliance, creativeness, proactively overcoming difficulties, good teaching, good learning, regularity - winning victory whenever in battle”.

In response to the increasingly high requirements of education and training and the building of an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong unit, the College has determined to take synchronised measures and leverage synergy from all forces and organisations. In this regard, studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” have been seen as a central measure and an important incentive for the College to successfully accomplish its tasks in the new era.

Being imbued with Uncle Ho’s words: “Our Army possesses invincible strength as it is a people’s army built, led, and educated by our Party”, “… it is necessary to strengthen the Party’s leadership within the Military”, the College’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have focused on raising the leadership capacity and combativeness of all-level party committees and party organisations, grasping and effectively implementing resolutions, conclusions, directives, regulations, and guidance on Party building and rectification. Emphasis has been placed on Conclusion 111-KL/QUTW, dated 12 February 2019, by the Central Military Commission Standing Board on continuing to improve the leadership capacity and combativeness of grass-roots party organisations and the quality of cadres and party members within the VPA as well as the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on enhancing the building and rectification of the Party and political system. Offices, faculties, and units have regularly consolidated party committees and party organisations both qualitatively and quantitatively. Great value has been attached to initiating new members into the Party, building a corps of cadres capable of their task requirements in the long term and short term, renewing content and forms of Party meetings, heightening criticism and self-criticism, closely combining ideological work with organisational work, personnel work, and policy work, proactively, resolutely fighting and preventing degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally.

Fully aware of Uncle Ho’s teachings: “cadres are the root of all work”, “… without teachers, there is no education”, the College has made a breakthrough in raising the quality of lecturers and educational managers, comprehensively developing their qualities and capabilities, particularly their morality, their dedication to the College itself, and a friendly, close relationship with cadets. It has focused on the planning and deployment of its cadres and lecturers to ensure proper quantity and structure and promote their forte. While sending its cadres and lecturers to other schools both at home and abroad for further training, improving their knowledge of information technology and foreign languages, the College has encouraged its staff members to be proactive in self-studying and mastering new weapons and equipment. It has organised visits to tank - armoured units across the VPA, Truong Sa Islands, and DK1 Platform in a bid to allow its cadres, lecturers, and cadets to broaden their knowledge and experience and improve their commanding style and hands-on skills. Besides, offices and faculties have strictly maintained pedagogical professional activities, promoting models, such as “exemplary teaching hour”, “young theoretical club”, and “Russian language club”, creating a favourable working environment for cadres and lecturers to better themselves. Thanks to those approaches, the College has succeeded in developing a contingent of “both red and expert” cadres and lecturers capable of their task requirements in the new period.

To contribute to building an adept, compact, strong VPA towards modernity, the College has frequently reviewed, adjusted, supplemented, and completed its training programs towards “standardisation and modernisation”. Being imbued with Uncle Ho’s instructions on closely combining theory with practice, it has continued to renew its training procedures, programs, and content as well as forms and methods of teaching, learning, and evaluation. Significance has been attached to reviewing and adjusting training programs to ensure a balance between bodies of knowledge, providing updates on new knowledge and equipment, reducing theoretical study, and increasing practice. Under the motto: “Schools’ training quality is the combat readiness capacity of units”, the College has closely worked with tank - armoured offices and units across the VPA to review, adjust, and perfect standard learning outcomes. At the same time, it has regularly grasped the quality of its cadets after graduation as the basis for training adjustments relevant to the Military’s task requirements. In the process, the College has combined the imparting of knowledge with the sharing of combat experiences and lessons learned from battles, inviting experienced cadres with good pedagogical skills from units to take part in lectures and graduation exams, and assigning its lecturers to take part in units’ exercises to gain hands-on experience in training and combat readiness. As a result, cadets have been equipped with comprehensive knowledge to meet the task requirements of the Tank - Armoured Force across the VPA.

Following Uncle Ho’s teachings on determinedly mastering science, technology, and professional expertise, promoting the spirit of creativity, daring to think, daring to do, devoting efforts to study, and applying advanced initiatives and experience, the College has made a breakthrough in scientific research work and the building of a smart, modern school. It has continued to complete policies to encourage its cadres, lecturers, and cadets to take part in scientific research and technical initiatives and innovations for education and training. Offices, faculties, and units have focused on theoretical and practical researches, particularly into the art of using tanks and armoured vehicles in the new combat condition and hi-tech warfare. Digital transformation has been effectively carried out across the College; priority has been given to constructing specialised classrooms, acquiring modern equipment, digitalising training materials, lectures, and scientific projects, raising the quality and effectiveness of managing and employing LAN and MISTEN networks for teaching and scientific research. At the same time, the College has actively applied information technology, simulation technology, and digital technology to teaching work. As a result, it has gradually developed a smart, modern school and become a prestigious centre for education, training, and scientific research within the VPA.

The study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the promotion of the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, and the building of a strong Tank - Armoured Officer College have been contributing to training a pool of tank - armoured officers with “iron will” and “turning our VPA into a powerful people’s army, a revolutionary army towards regularity and modernity to maintain peace and protect the Fatherland” as instructed by Uncle Ho.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN MANH HIEN

Deputy Political Commissar of the College